Cartons used to enclose groups of bottles or other cylindrical articles are commonly rectangular boxes with squared corners. Such a rectangular carton includes a top wall that has the same dimensions as its bottom wall, side walls that have the same dimensions as one another, and end walls that have the same dimensions as one another. When a group of cylindrical articles is loaded into a rectangular carton, the articles do not completely fill the rectangular void defined by the interior of the rectangular carton. The empty space or unfilled portion of the void allows the articles to move, slide, or tilt within the carton and, consequently, the articles may damage one another as they contact one another. This problem is particularly acute when the articles are tapered, as are typical beverage bottles.
To address this issue, gabled cartons have been designed to have structures or shapes that better conform to the volume defined by the article group. The gabled shape reduces the unused space as compared to that of rectangular cartons and, thus, the gabled cartons more tightly package the article group. However, many of the blanks for forming gabled cartons include complicated arrangements of fold lines that make it difficult to fold and secure the blank as a tubular structure such that the article group can be end loaded using automated high speed packaging equipment. For example, certain gabled cartons have side walls that each includes a vertically extending lower portion that is hingedly connected to an inwardly sloping upper portion. This shape is not easily maintained when the carton is empty. Thus, the carton must be supported such that the upper portions of the side walls are angled with respect to the lower portions of the side wall so that the group of cylindrical articles can be loaded into the carton. A specialized packaging machine is required to support certain gabled cartons, which introduces an additional cost.
Further, carton structures, shapes, or configurations that include chamfered corners between their end walls and side walls have been developed to tightly package a group of cylindrical articles. For example, such a carton may include an arrangement of triangular panels that connect a side end wall and a side end flap, which partially defines an end wall. However, such an arrangement for providing a chamfered corner is limited to cartons where the upper portions of both side walls and end walls slope inwardly with respect to bottom portions of the side walls and end walls.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies. What is needed is a carton that tightly packages a group of cylindrical articles and that can be easily erected and loaded according to known methods for forming rectangular cartons.